I don't know how they made these determinations, but it sure appears that a bunch of Democrats who responded to their questionnaires indicating the strongest possible support were not given the seal of approval against Republicans with consistent records of opposing LGBT equality at every turn. These questionnaires make it clear once again that when it comes to protecting the equal rights of all Virginians, party matters. The Democrats are becoming more and more vocal in their support -- while the Republicans remain a huge obstacle to progress.

Now, on to the strange endorsements and non-endorsements by Equality Virginia.

Despite a stellar questionnaire from Democrat Laurie Buchwald, no endorsement
over Del.Joseph Yost (R), who is occasionally pro-LGBT but didn't even bother to fill in Equality Virginia's questionnaire.

Ditto for Democrat Susan Hippen against Del. Ron Villanueva (R).

Perhaps one of the weirdest - no endorsement of Democrat Chuck Hedges, whose questionnaire is superb, over far-far-far-right-wing Republican Dave LaRock?!? Seriously?!?

No endorsement of strong-on-LGBT-equality Del. Charniele Herring (D) - although perhaps because she didn't fill out the questionnaire?

No endorsement of 100%-rated LGBT champion House Democratic Leader David Toscano (again, the only explanation is that he didn't fill out the questionnaire)?!?

Also, there are some weird non-endorsements for State Senate, such as no endorsement of Democrat and super-strong LGBT ally April Moore against anti-gay extremist Mark Obenshain.. Same thing with the non-endorsement of Democrat Wayne Powell (super-strong questionnaire) over right-wing/Tea Party Republican Amanda Chase. As for the non-endorsement of Sen. John Edwards (D), Josh Israel points out that he's been a "huge LGBT ally for years," although for whatever reason he didn't fill out the Equality Virginia questionnaire, so maybe that's it.

Anyway, as Josh Israel noted, it's hard to figure out "how they made these determinations, but it sure appears that a bunch of Democrats who responded to their questionnaires indicating the strongest possible support were not given the seal of approval against Republicans with consistent records of opposing LGBT equality at every turn." Weird.

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Welcome to Blue Virginia!

The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog, founded by me (Lowell Feld), but now including several other progressive writers. I can't speak for the other "front pagers," but I consider myself a progressive in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, RFK and actually a bunch of progressive Republicans (e.g., Jacob Javits, Lowell Weicker). As such, I believe in expanding opportunities to all, utilizing government as a tool to promote the general welfare and the common good, protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations, and expanding the rights promised in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to all Americans.

I invite everyone to comment here, but please be aware that profanity, personal attacks, bigotry, and "trolling" are not allowed. Thanks, and enjoy!